Her full name is Barbara Trzetrzelewska, and I have to remember that it’s pronounced che-che-lev-ska. She was born in Poland 55 years ago on September 30. Basia came into my consciousness with the CD Time and Tide; I love her voice. It’s both sophisticated- and youthful-sounding–a child woman singing jazzy pop. Whenever she happens to come on the radio, my heart just soars along with her three-octave voice. I was in love with someone when this CD was released, of course, and so I remember that time and how alive I felt.

Sure enough, according to Basia trivia, Time and Tide was about Basia’s love affair with Danny White, her longtime collaborator. (White is the brother of Peter White, who was the keyboardist for Scottish singer Al Stewart of Year of the Cat fame, and supposedly, another progenitor of the smooth jazz idiom.) London Warsaw New York, however, chronicled the breakup of that relationship.

White continues as Basia’s collaborator.

Basia alternates among ballads, bossa-nova (she digs the seminal vocalist Astrud Gilberto), jazz and pop. I find it interesting, at this writing, that Basia appeared about the same time as Sade, another smooth jazz vocalist I like, and groups like Everything But the Girl and Swing Out Sister whose early work defy easy definition and wasn’t so easily mainstreamed.

This is from Basia’s second album, London Warsaw New York, which also features an amazing cover of “Til You Come Back to Me, That’s What I’m Going to Do,” “Brave New Hope,” and my favorite, “Not An Angel” (which, unfortunately, is not on You Tube). Basia has made a recent comeback after leaving music in 1998. The reason: she didn’t feel like singing anymore. Some say that it was because she suffered many personal losses in the Nineties, including the deaths of her mother and older brother. Her newest CD is called It’s That Girl Again, on the Koch label, and it was released in March of this year to great excitement and acclaim in the U.S. It’s her first since 1994’s The Sweetest Illusion fifteen years ago.

Basia is the mother of a long-grown son, Mikolaj, who was born in 1977. She probably has grandkids by now.

Senior NHS figures warn Boris Johnson to plan for second wave; infection rate could be increasing in some areas, including north-west EnglandPrime minister told to dump rhetoric and plan for new Covid waveSenior clinicians fear UK has no plan for second waveCovid-19 in the Commons: ‘How can you plot and keep 2m apart?’Coronavirus – latest global updatesSee a […]

Scientists say injection of cloned antibodies could help treat people already infected, while vaccine development continuesCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageScientists working on coronavirus treatments may be close to a breakthrough on an antibody treatment that could save the lives of people who become infected, it has been reporte […]

Toll could hit 34,000 among country’s most vulnerable residents by end of June, estimates expert study Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageCare home residents are on course to make up more than half the deaths caused directly or indirectly by the coronavirus crisis in England, according to a new analysis.The study warns that the death […]

Father of six-year-old who vanished in Portugal in 1996 hopes to finally learn what happened to his sonThe father of a six-year-old German boy who disappeared on holiday in Portugal nearly 24 years ago says the recent dramatic developments in the Madeleine McCann case have given him hope he will finally learn what happened to his son.Andreas Hasee said a Ger […]

Leaked letter instructs ministers to have ‘no specific policy’ on the issueDowning Street has been accused of reopening the door to imports of chlorinated chicken and hormone-treated beef, after a leaked memo instructed ministers to have “no specific policy” on animal welfare in US trade talks.The letter from No 10 states that the ministerial mandate for the […]

After ‘appalling scenes’ in US and Hong Kong, the shadow foreign secretary attacks UK policy for putting growth and trade ahead of human rightsBritain is “absenting itself from the world stage” by refusing to show leadership over Hong Kong residents, confront China or condemn President Trump over his handling of the fallout from George Floyd’s killing, the s […]

With many leaders backing Black Lives Matter over George Floyd’s death, a former official leads criticism of ‘perilously archaic’ institution A former senior Church of England official has criticised the institution’s record on racism, while many of its bishops are publicly backing the Black Lives Matter movement. The Rev Arun Arora, a vicar in Durham and fo […]